Extensive pneumatic transport system for loading ships.

Claudius Peters Projects GmbH (Claudius Peters), Germany, has developed a project for the LafargeHolcim plant in Indonesia, of a cement pneumatic conveying system that provides for its rapid loading on board sea vessels. At the initial stage of the work at the Claudius Peters Technical Center, the characteristics of the transported material were identified, and tests were carried out on a test pipeline 5,125 m long. The design capacity of this system, launched in April 2015, is 500 t/h; the direct transportation distance is over 1,100 m. During the tests its production rate exceeded 600 t/h. The main factors that have to be taken into account in the design of such systems are listed, in order to optimize the operation, and ways of addressing this problem.

Author: M.-A. Moka

Section: Equipment and technology

Keywords: pneumatic conveying, ship loading, sea shipping.